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Chapter 247: Navy
After he left the magistrate office, he went straight to the Beihai Port under the guidance of Pei Donglai.
Beihai Port was a mixed port located at the southeast corner of Beihai City. Half of it belonged to the civilian fishing port, and the other was the military navy port. It was also the station point of Beihai Navy fleet. The previously shifted advanced shipyard was relocated to Beihai Port.
As he walked into the navy port, he asked Pei Donglai to invite the shipyard advisor Elder Sun and manager Zhou Dahai over to discuss matters regarding the expansion of Beihai Navy fleet.
Naval Port, Council Chamber.
Ouyang Shuo sat on the floor, and he looked around before he said anything, “Long ago, I had decided to expand the scale of the navy fleet, a strategy aimed to dominate over the ocean. During these periods of time, the territory had built an advanced shipyard and the Beihai Port, established a fleet of navy sailors, crafted our primary warships—Meng Chong warships, everything was seemingly fine. But what was happening? We couldn’t even take down a small island, couldn’t exterminate a small group of pirates, why is that so?”
His question was so sharp that it stagnated the atmosphere.
“General Pei, you are the navy commander, so tell us your opinion.” Ouyang Shuo started naming people.
Pei Donglai knew he needed to give something with actual content. He rose, first bowed and greeted Ouyang Shuo, then he said, “Reporting to the marquis, if we were to point out excuses, I could name quite a few of them. For example, the lack in troops, the lack of combat experience and the unfamiliarity of the surrounding waters. But these were not the main causes. The navy fleet can overcome these obstacles if we desire it. The crux of the problem lies within the lack of variety of warships. There is only a single kind of warship in the territory. We couldn’t organize a large-scale naval battle.”
Pei Donglai’s points brightened Ouyang Shuo’s eyes, “Continue.”
As a former navy general of the imperial court, Pei Donglai was very experienced in naval battles. He had a clearer idea than anyone else on the problems that lay within the Beihai Navy fleet.
Pei Donglai tidied up his thoughts in his mind, as the thoughts were sorted out, he continued, “To form a complete organizational structured navy fleet, we need at least 3 varieties of warships. The first will be the command ships—Tower warships, they’re the primary warships, and they also carry the logistical support of the naval fleet. Only then comes the second kind, the attack warships—Meng Chong warship, their defense capabilities are weaker than the tower warships. The weak point is that they can’t individually engage in a naval battle far away from the home-base as they can only carry a limited amount of logistical resources. Lastly, the third kind will be the scout warships—Cima boats. They are small, light, fast, and easy to hide.”
“Only with reasonable coordination between the 3 variety of warships can we exploit our full potential in a naval battle. The organization structure of the navy fleet shall not be the replica of the ground forces. Instead, the navy fleet will be grouped into units of fleets. In a unit of fleet consists of not only soldiers but must also be separately equipped with sailors. Beihai navy fleet is now only equipped with Meng Chong warships. Therefore, we will be facing great risk if we were to sail across the sea and attack Moon Island.”
Ouyang Shuo nodded as he understood the crux of the problem, he was taking it too lightly before.
Among the 3 warships, the small scout warships were not much of a concern. The main issue would be the large command warships—Tower warships.
To build the tower warships, they had to face two obstacles. The first was to acquire the <tower warship="" manufacturing="" manual=""> and the second was to build a premium shipyard. The advanced shipyard he had now could only manufacture mid-sized warships.
The biggest obstacle to upgrading the shipyard into the premium level was cleared off as Zheng Dahai was already a master shipbuilder. The only thing Ouyang Shuo needed to do was to spend 5000 gold on the premium shipyard building blueprint.
The main key was still the <tower warship="" manufacturing="" manual="">. It belonged to the special class, and one could only pray one could lay hands on such a rare item. Ouyang Shuo could hope that it would appear in the next system auction. However, the distant waters could not quench his present thirst. The aid would be coming in too slow to be of any help.
Ouyang Shuo turned and looked at Zheng Dahai. “Is there anything to report about the shipyard?”
Zheng Dahai rose, bowed, and said, “Reporting to the marquis, the shipyard has stopped manufacturing Meng Chong warships and is now only producing fishing boats.”
“Why is that so?”
“It was because the demand for Meng Chong warships had been fulfilled. Other than those that were delivered to the Beihai Navy fleet and the Xila lake navy unit, there are still 20 extra Meng Chong warships docked in the port. We barely fit them in.”
Ouyang Shuo was stunned since when did the shipyard had such a high efficiency? They mustn’t be underestimated. Ouyang Shuo asked, “What are the levels of the shipbuilders in the shipyard?”
A proud look came onto his face as Zheng Dahai answered Ouyang Shuo’s question with a bright smile. “Reporting to the marquis, after half a year of cultivation, the shipyard now has a total of 870 shipbuilders. Among them is 1 master, 12 advanced, 54 intermediate, 228 basic, and 575 apprentice-level shipbuilders.” To nurture such a big team truly wasn’t easy.
“Not bad.” Ouyang Shuo nodded with approval.
At last, Ouyang Shuo turned to Elder Sun and asked, “Elder Sun, how’s the transformation of the warships going on?”
Other than his usual research job in Research Institute No.7, Elder Sun had spent most of his time in the shipyard. Sun Xiaoyue had grumbled to Ouyang Shuo over this matter, saying that Ouyang Shuo was oppressing and exploiting the last residual value out of her grandfather.
Ouyang Shuo could only answer her with a wry smile.
In truth, ever since they had entered the game, the restraints of the real world no longer restricted the elders. Each and every one of them was filled with spirit and endless energy. Ouyang Shuo couldn’t even slow them down.
Elder Sun, with his face filled with enthusiasm and his voice loud and clear, shook his head and said, “Just as General Pei had described, the types of warships are too few. There were a lot of technology transformations that couldn’t be used. Specifically, on Meng Chong warship, we had equipped it with a compass, upgraded the sails. At the same time, I have plans to enhance the ship’s structure with inner metal plates, fitting them with naval rams to increase the impact damage capability of the Meng Chong warships.”
He continued. “The most important research of all is the watertight bulkhead technology. With this technology we can increase the drafting of water. Otherwise, it will be useless to install the metal plates if the water draft can’t follow up.”
Ouyang Shuo was overjoyed. He didn’t expect Elder Sun to implement so many upgrades in such a short period.
“Elder Sun is too humble, such transformations are worth more than tens of thousands of gold.” Ouyang Shuo said as he smiled.
Elder Sun waved his hands. “Ouyang, you don’t have to apple-polish me.”
Ouyang Shuo nodded. He turned and looked at the others again, especially Pei Donglai, then he said, “Leave the matters regarding the tower warships to me. This is not something that can be done overnight. It will not be able to take part in the extermination of pirates on Moon Island. We can only rely on the Meng Chong warships. About the naval battle, I will personally partake in it and take charge of the logistical support. General Pei, you will need to take in considerations and draft a plan to ensure the smoothness of the naval battle.”
“Understood!” Pei Donglai answered, and he felt immense responsibility placed on his shoulder.
During the afternoon, Ouyang Shuo returned to Shanhai City.
The moment he arrived back home, a concierge came running. “Reporting to the marquis, important guests came. The madam has asked marquis to make way to the garden in the backyard once the marquis has returned.” The ‘madam’ the concierge referred to was naturally Song Jia.
Ouyang Shuo was startled for a moment, if the guests were taken in by Song Jia, then they must have been friends of Ouyang Shuo and Song Jia.
Ever since the founding of Dongli Sword Sect, there was a continuity of schoolmates that came attracted by the name. Especially after Song Jia’s identity was revealed on the forums, the players came like an endless stream.
A large portion of the people who came were attended to by Song Jia, with Ouyang Shuo not even appearing. Since Song Jia had specially asked him to appear, it meant that this person must have been a classmate and one which he had a good relationship with.
Ouyang Shuo walked into the backyard, and he as saw Zi Su, he asked, “Who are the guests?”
Zi Su first greeted Ouyang Shuo, then answered, “Reporting to the marquis, according to the madam, they are your schoolmates, 2 females.”
Ouyang Shuo nodded. He had an idea of who they were, so he waved his hand and said, “Alright, you can get back to work.”
“Understood!” Zi Su left after replying to Ouyang Shuo.
Ouyang Shuo walked past the backyard into the garden. From far away he could hear the chit chats and laughter of the ladies.
“Wuyi, over here!” Song Jia’s eyes were sharp as she noticed Ouyang Shuo immediately.
In the middle of the garden stood a gazebo, in it sat 3 ladies. Other than Song Jia, the others also dressed in outfits of chivalrous experts. As they heard Song Jia calling Ouyang Shuo, they turned around and gazed at him.
“Woah, it is Ouyang Shuo, wuwu~,” the lady who was slightly fatter said. She had more of an elegant demeanor than her other friend who was tiny and cute, but even though her friend was quiet, she still couldn’t hide the surprise in her eyes.
Ouyang Shuo wasn’t too sure before, but he could recognize the two now. He walked towards them while he smiled and said, “Well well, and I thought who are the important guests. So, it’s the two beauties, welcome!”
That’s right. They were the two ladies who accompanied Ouyang Shuo during the student gathering, Tan Xiaoli and Meng Feifei.
The two ladies were stunned, disbelieving the truth.
Ouyang Shuo helplessly shook his head and sat down beside Song Jia.
Song Jia obediently poured a cup of tea for Ouyang Shuo and asked, “Wuyi, how was the trip?” Song Jia knew Ouyang Shuo went over to Beihai City for an inspection.
Ouyang Shuo nodded, not wanting to elaborate too much. He raised his head and looked at his two friends, and said self-deprecatingly, “What? Am I a monster? Why are you two looking me like this?”
“You are a monster!” Song Jia made a joke.
Tang Xiaoli and Meng Feifei nodded together in agreement.
“Old friends, I have never thought that we would meet each other again,” Ouyang Shuo said with deep feelings.
Speaking of deep feelings, Tan Xiaoli and Meng Feifei should be the one with deeper feelings. Before coming to Shanhai City, they knew nothing of Ouyang Shuo’s identity; they were only here for Song Jia.
But after they arrived, Song Jia told them the true identity of Ouyang Shuo, and for a moment it was truly hard to believe.
“Hmph, not bad, snatching away the class flower secretly.” Tan Xiaoli was a big-hearted lady. She was the first to accept the truth, and she jokingly said, “We were still thinking, who is this Qiyue Wuyi, what charm does he have to capture the love of our class flower? Who knew that man was one of us.”
Ouyang Shuo shook his head, as the friendships between old classmates were not that simple. No one would know what was the true intention of her words. How much of it was pure and innocent intentions, or was she just secretly sweet-talking to Song Jia?
But Ouyang Shuo didn’t care too much, he let his thoughts drift away and had a casual talk with the two.
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